Warriors end Colony’s season

HOMER — The ice at the Homer ice rink is indeed level, despite appearances during portions of Wasilla's 5-0 defeat of Colony in the semifinals of the North Star Conference Tournament.

Wasilla out-shot its Valley rival 39-10 in a lopsided affair played mainly on the Warriors' end of the ice.

“We were basically defending their offensive attack all night,” Colony head coach Dale Mattson said following the game.

Sophomore forward Matthew Friese scored twice for the top-seeded Warriors, which advanced to the state tournament with the victory. Wasilla also got goals from senior forwards Adam Friese and Harvey Finch, and freshman forward Mike Edwards.

Despite peppering Colony goalie Charlie Holman with 15 shots in the opening period, the Warriors got just one goal in the first, a strike by Adam Friese off assists from his younger brother and freshman forward Trent Wohlers.

The Warriors broke things open in the second. Finch staked the Warriors to a 2-0 lead when he beat Holman five-hole with a wrister from near the face-off circle. Three minutes later, Matthew Friese carried the puck in alone on Holman and made a nifty backhand move to beat the Colony sophomore, who made 34 saves on the night.

Edwards then capped Wasilla's three-goal second period with help from assists by senior forward Joe Barkley and senior forward Herbie Mansavage.

Matthew Friese capped the scoring with a power-play goal just 50 seconds into the third period off a slick feed from Finch, who hit Friese with the pass in-stride as he charged through the heart of the Colony defense.

Following the game, Matthew Friese said Wasilla's devastating offensive performance had much to do with his team's refusal to take the Knights lightly, despite having beaten Colony 9-0 in the teams' final meeting of the regular season.

“I didn't want to blow it in the last game,” he said. “If we lost tonight, we're done.”

When fourth-seeded Colony did manage to un-tilt the ice, Wasilla goalie Jake Dargis was there to stop them in their tracks.

“They make very few mistakes, and the ones they did make their goaltender came up big,” Mattson said.

The loss may have prevented his team from reaching the state tournament, but Mattson said Colony's 11-win season — including a win Thursday over Kenai Central in the tournament's opening game — was an unqualified success for the Knights, a team that failed to win a single game last season.

“I'm very happy with how the season turned out,” Mattson said. “The guys really came a long way.”

Mattson credited his team's five seniors — defenseman Chris Breck and forwards Blake Huppert, Risto Paatsama, Kevin Thygeson and Ryan Weeks — with leading that turnaround, and said the toughest part of losing in the tournament was having to see them skate off the ice for a final time.

“I”m gonna miss them,” he said.

Mattson wasn't alone in his sentiments. Wasilla head coach Bill Sturdevant, a former Colony assistant, said knocking the Knights out of the tournament was “bittersweet.”

“I'm happy but we won, but I'm sorry that we won at the expense of all those kids I think real highly of,” Sturdevant said.

WARRIORS 5, KNIGHTS 0

North Star Conference semifinals

Friday, Homer Ice Arena

Wasilla 1 3 1 - 5

Colony 0 0 0 - 0

First period — 1. Wasilla- A. Friese (Wohlers, M. Friese), 6:16

Second period — 2. Wasilla- Finch (Conroy), 2:41; 3. Wasilla- M. Friese (Elkins), 5:34; 4. Edwards (Barkley, Mansavage), 8:10

Third period — 5. M. Friese (Barber), pp, :50

Penalties: Wasilla 10 for 20 minutes, Colony 13 for 26 minutes. Shots: Wasilla 15-14-12 - 39, Colony 3-4-3 - 10. Saves: Wasilla- Dargis 3-4-3 - 10, Colony- Holman 14-11-9 - 34.